Parent application Ser. No. 07/687,671, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,547 relates to a mail transport assembly for a mail sorting system. The assembly of the parent application is concerned with delivering various individual items of mail to selected bins in accordance with a mail sorting arrangement consisting of a predetermined bin for each item of mail. With such a system, it is necessary to feed the individual items of oriented mail to the sorter. Where such a system is intended to be used with automated mail sorters handling a large number of items, difficulties arise when the individual items of mail differ from each other. It would be desirable, for example, if a feeder could be provided which is capable of handling various types of items of mail including unbound magazines, folded newspapers, plastic-covered items, Tyvek envelopes and the like. Such a feeder system would have particular utility with automated mail sorters such as TRITEK.TM. 88-5 and the 91-5 ULTRASORTER. The 88-5 system uses an optical character reader to presort mail in private industries and mail houses. The 88-5 system includes a support surface on which the mail is conveyed with a reader arrangement determining which of the plurality of downstream bins would receive the individual items of mail in the individual categories as defined, for example, by different zip codes.